Hillary Clinton — Not Irish-American, but gets into the "Irish American Hall of Fame" — Also gets a "Lifetime Achievement Award" for the achievements of others

Hillary Clinton looks like she has doubled-down on one of her BIG LIES that didn’t fly in 2008  —  That she was part of the North Irish Peace Process  —   But in 2015 she had OTHER PEOPLE SAY IT, so it might be okay THIS TIME AROUND

During 2008, at least three different fact-check organizations said Hillary’s claims about her being part of the North Irish Peace Process were not accurate  —   She also got  “One Pinocchio for exaggeration” from the WaPo   —   the Boston Globe said that Hillary Clinton’s stories of bringing Protestant and Catholic women together became more dramatic with each retelling  —  And Daily Kos even said Hillary Clinton's taking credit for what others did viv a vis getting the Irish Women together was "Outrageous" 

At that time, in North Ireland, what people remembered about Hillary's part in all of it was her “Teapot” Speech  —  And that was pretty much it

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post recently showed their skepticism even to Hillary’s recently modified and very modulated approach to her role in the North Ireland peace deal during her current recycling of the story  

Even though the too-clever-by-half Hillary hedged her bets at the celebration of her “Irish America Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award” last week  —   She accepted it not for herself, but  “...on behalf of all the remarkable women that I met and admired in Northern Ireland....”   —   The Times and WaPo reported that principals at “Irish America”  were making the same inflated claims about Hillary Clinton's deeds during their 2015 event that she had concocted in 2008 

On March 16, 2015, Hillary Clinton was inducted into something called  the “Irish America Hall of Fame,” whatever that is  —   since many, if not most, great Irish Americans are not in it, and Hillary Clinton is in no way “Irish American.”  According to Irish America Magazine, the sponsor of the award, the former First Lady was "... being honored for her work on behalf of the Irish peace process...."  That Hillary had any real part in the “Irish peace process” remains controversial  — as if making false claims about one’s personal history is merely something that can be described as “controversial” ( See ““Hillary's Entry in Irish Hall of Fame Comes Despite False Claims of Bringing 'Peace' to N.Ireland  –  Embellishment pays” by Daniel Halper, 3/16/15, The Weekly Standard [http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hillarys-entry-irish-hall-fame-comes-despite-false-claims-bringing-peace-nireland_888675.html]).

THE MEDIA AND THE FACT CHECKERS IN 2008

In 2008, the last time that she ran for president, when Hillary Clinton was making many hollow claims about her vast foreign policy experience, one of her biggest confabulations was that she “helped” to broker the 1998 Good Friday peace accords.  Most major news outlets and at least three (3) fact-check organizations had to yank hard on Hillary’s leash to bring her to heal about that overcooked chestnut.

In spite of making every effort to make Hillary Clinton’s claims look good, according to Politifact, “[Hillary Clinton] is perhaps best known in Northern Ireland for an Oct. 31, 1997, speech at the University of Ulster in Belfast in which she brought back a teapot that had been given to her in a previous visit....  In her memoir Living History, Clinton recounts her teapot speech and several other anecdotes about her visits to Ireland and Northern Ireland, but there's little in the book to indicate that she played a key role [in the peace process]....  In his book Making Peace, George Mitchell mentioned Hillary Clinton only in passing and he did not mention her in his speech when he was given a United Nations Peace Prize in 1998.... Clinton claimed that she ‘helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland.’... But based on our interviews and research, it's a stretch for [Hillary] Clinton to say so.... ” (See “A small but significant role” by Bill Adair, 3/10/08, Politifact
[http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/mar/10/hillary-clinton/a-small-but-significant-role/]).

In a very lengthy article looking at many of Hillary’s fabulous claims about herself,  Joe Miller of the fact-check addressed the question of whether Hillary Clinton’s activities ‘helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.’...” , his conclusion was even more terse and straightforward, tart and tangy than Politifact:  “[Hillary] Clinton has said that she ‘helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.’  Of course, ‘helped’ is a fairly weak claim, one that could be made by nearly anyone who contributed in a way that didn’t actively hinder the process....Irish officials are divided as to how helpful [Hillary] Clinton’s actions were, and key players agree that she was not directly involved in any actual negotiations....” (See ““Hillary’s Adventures Abroad –  We find some exaggerations in Clinton's claims of foreign policy experience” by Joe Miller, 3/13/08, factcheck.org [http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/hillarys-adventures-abroad/]).

One of the most devastating pieces against Hillary’s Irish Peace claims in 2008 came from the Washington Post’s “fact-checker” Michael Dobbs.  Dobbs said that even the lead U.S. negotiator, Senator George Mitchell, said the former first lady was "not involved directly" in bringing about peace in North Ireland. According to Dobbs, “I just spoke to the Clinton administration’s leading Northern Ireland peace negotiator, who said that Hillary was ‘not involved directly’ in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the landmark April 1998 Good Friday agreement on power-sharing....” (See “Clinton and Northern Ireland” by Michael Dobbs, 1/10/08, Washington Post [http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/clinton_and_northern_ireland.html]).

A much quoted  Boston Globe article in 2008 noted that Hillary Clinton’s  stories of bringing Protestant and Catholic women together became more dramatic with each retelling,  however it also noted that her claim that she brought Catholics and Protestants together ‘for the first time’ seemed dubious.(See “Clinton trumpets role as Irish peace facilitator” by Marcella Bombardieri & Globe Staff, 1/7/08, Boston Globe [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/07/clinton_trumpets_role_as_irish_peace_facilitator/]).  Those claims were further debunked by a piece in Daily Kos, whose author “LibDem” called Hillary’s self aggrandizement in describing her role in bringing the Irish wives and mothers together as “outrageous,” especially when compared to the courageous work that was done by the Irish women themselves (See “Hillary Exagerates Role in Northern Ireland” by Lib Dem, 3/5/08, Daily Kos [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/03/05/469842/-Hillary-Exagerates-Role-in-Northern-Ireland#]).

THE NY TIMES AND THE WASHINGTON POST  —  SKEPTICAL OF HILLARY CLINTON’S CYNICISM

Right up front in its report about Hillary Clinton’s recent award from the folks at “Irish America,” the NY Times made it clear that there was a significant back story to all of it.  Times writer Amy Chozick opened by saying this: “The subjects of Ireland and tea made for an unpleasant brew in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 campaign for president. Her primary opponent, Barack Obama, once belittled her as having merely “had tea with” world leaders as first lady. Her husband defended her as “a peacemaker, not a tea maker.” Then she was accused of overstating her own contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process....” (See “In Accepting Irish-American Honor, Hillary Clinton Recasts Her Role in a Peace Pact” by Amy Chozick, 3/16/15, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/us/politics/in-accepting-irish-american-honor-hillary-clinton-recasts-her-role-in-a-peace-pact.html?_r=1]). After showing that Hillary was shrugging all of that stuff off; and that she was tweeking the peace making story a bit, Chozik closed by a snarky bit, which highlighted the fact of Hillary Clinton’s closeness to Gerry Adams, still a suspect in a 1972 murder investigation.

The Washington Post coverage was a bit more focused on Hillary’s claims then (2008) and what was being said about Hillary now (at the 2015 “Irish America” event) ( See ““Hillary Clinton garners award for role in easing the Northern Ireland conflict” by Anne Gearan, 3/16/15, Washington Post/ Politics
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-garners-award-for-role-in-easing-the-northern-ireland-conflict/2015/03/16/d80780f6-cbf6-11e4-a2a7-9517a3a70506_story.html]).  Ms. Gearan particularly noted that “Magazine editor Patricia Harty said Clinton was honored “for her role in helping to broker the Good Friday agreement” during the administration of her husband, Bill Clinton. ***  The event underscored Hillary Clinton’s long history with Northern Ireland... [and that s]he faced attacks during the 2008 campaign after saying she ‘helped bring peace to Northern Ireland,’ a claim she avoided making [at the “Irish America” event].”

Gearan and the Washington Post also made this clear: “Clinton played no direct role in fostering the 1998 peace deal but is credited with helping solidify support for the reconciliation effort. Her work bringing together women from both sides of the conflict served as a foundation for Clinton’s later work as secretary of state to include women in political and peace discussions....” It was also noted that “Clinton did not go into the particulars of her involvement [in obtaining the peace deal the during the Irish America gathering], while praising the roles played by others....”

LAST YEAR’S "HALL OF FAME" INDUCTEE  —   GUV MARTIN  O’MALLEY  —   DON’T THAT BEAT ALL; OH, AND DON'T FORGET IRISH AMERICA'S TOP OF IT'S LIST OF "50"  is VP JOE BIDEN

In an interesting bit of irony, last year’s inductee into the  “Irish America" Hall of Fame was none other than Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, one of Mrs. Clinton’s likely opponents for the Democratic nomination for President in 2016.

Oh, in another bit of irony, guess who tops the "Irish America" list of its " Top '50' " influential Irish-Americans ?  Another "none-other-than" type  —  another one of Hillary Clinton's possible challengers, Vice President Joe Biden.